What are you going to do if you are in a flight for about 21 hours? Few weeks ago I have experienced my longest flight ever in my life. I have gone to 5 airports in 2 different airline companies. I took the flight of Southwest Airlines from Buffalo to Los Angeles but I had a stopover in Phoenix for about 2 hours. And I also took a flight of the Philippine Airlines on my way to Manila. I have started my journey in Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Buffalo airport is one of the nicest airport in the US. Although, it is not one of the busiest but still preoccupied because of the tourists who visited the amazing Niagara falls located in the boundary between Canada and the US.

a view from the window on my way to Arizona.

It takes 5 hours of flight from Buffalo to Phoenix. Five hours of long flight with different time zone is really boring. However, you have to do something to kill your boredom. What I did was I have talked to the person next to me. Talking to the person next to you sometimes is not effective in killing your boredom because you might run out of topic or sometimes the person you are talking with is not interested in your topic. Sometimes they have only short responses to your questions. It’s good that the plane has a free movie via wifi. Wifi is not free if you are going to browse the internet. It is only free for movie by downloading an application of your android phone. It is readily useful for IPhone users.

After five hours of long flight, I arrived to the 6th busiest airport in the US. The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is rank number six being the busiest airport. This was my stopover for two hours on my way to Los Angeles. It’s good that I do not anymore need to pick up my baggage because it was only my stopover. My ticket is actually direct to Los Angeles, my exit point to the Philippines from the US.

It was also an enjoyable trip as all of the airports that I have been has a free wifi connection. I could call my wife whenever I was in the airport via Skype or FB messenger application in my android phone.

Two hours in the airport is really very fast. I fly again to Los Angeles from my stop over in Phoenix. Flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles is not so exhausting as it takes only an hour to fly to LAX. When I arrive in LAX, the second busiest airport in the US, second only to Atlanta International Airport, I looked for my terminal for my flight to the Philippines. Flights to the Philippines via Philippine Airlines is located in Tom Bradley International Airport. I needed an airport cart but it cost me $5 to have a push cart. I have no choice than taking up a taxi from my location. I took a walk from my arrival in LAX to Tom Bradley International Airport. I had an acquaintance upon arrival, also a Filipino, so we walked together until we reach to our destination. We have the same flight to the Philippines. Filipinos in the airport are more friendly compared to others whom I have met in the other places.

A view of the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

When I located my terminal for my flight from Los Angeles to Manila, I immediately checked in my luggages. I have 4 luggages including my hand carried luggages. I couldn’t check in my luggage which contain my camera and laptop. I should take care personally my luggage that contain the expensive belongings, such as laptop and DSLR camera.

It’s now time for me to take the 13-14 hours of flight from Los Angeles to Manila without stopover. I took the airbus of the Philippine Airlines to Manila. If you are going to imagine the travel, surely, it is very tiresome and boring, however, you have to remember also that you need to go home. Airbus is different from other airline. It is bigger. Imagine that there are about 10 persons in a row as compared to smaller airline, only six in a row or may be four.

Here are some tips which might be useful when you travel alone with a long flight:

1. Sleep. The flight that I’ve got started at 10pm, so I have the reason to sleep up to 8 hours. However, sleeping in a plane for 8 hours is not possible because of the noise. Not to mention if you are seating along the aisle, the person who seats beside should wake you up when they need to go to the restroom.

2. Watch TV. Each seat of the airbus is provided with a small TV screen. You can select from the TV whether to listen to music or watch movies, or TV shows.

3. Play Games. It is also provided in the TV set in each seat some games but if you don’t like the games provided you can use your mobile phone, just be sure you have enough battery charged. Remember, you are travelling 13- 14 hours so it’s better to bring a power bank.

4. Read. You can also bring books to read, however, bringing books with you would be an additional baggage in your travel. There are available reading materials in the plane. The stewardess would provide newspaper and magazine. There are also ebooks available nowadays which are downloadable from the internet.

5. Go to Restroom every 2-3 hours. I often go to the restroom not because I want to pee but I just want to stand up and let my blood circulate. Besides, it changes my position to avoid backache.

6. Pray. If you are not religious enough to pray be sure to know how to call your God. Remember you are flying. There are a lot of untoward incidents happen in a plane. So, be sure to allocate a short time for you to call God for your safety.

The plane would provide food. They will serve two meals and two snacks, so, eating would also consume time while you are in your travel. I did all the tips that I have mentioned during my longest flight from Buffalo back to my hometown in the Philippines. You can trace my flight including my land travel by clicking this link https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zBH2JklUgAgI.k9d09iJLhgVs.

When I arrived in Manila, I have my last flight to Laguindingan Airport before I will be home in Iligan, that would be the last airport that I have been to. I hope you enjoyed reading my article. Thank you.